How to: Basing Middle-Earth

The finished bases

I'm trying to put more painting and modelling guides onto the blog so I thought I'd start a year likely to be filled with Middle-Earth miniatures with a guide to how I do them, alongside a few thoughts I have at the end on variations. For reference, I have largely followed GW's grassy plains tutorial for my Middle-Earth miniatures but with some minor difference.

I wanted a consistent basing scheme for all of my Lord of the Rings and Hobbit stuff, rather than a different one themed to each force. This is so that should I choose to ally forces I will still have a fairly unified looking army, and it will make using miniatures in different armies (for example, my orc warriors will turn up in the Angmar, Mordor, Barad-Dur, and Isengard forces I field) much easier from a visual point of view.

Sand --> Mournfang Brown

First up is applying the sand. The way I did this was to water down some pva glue (just a little bit), apply it all over the base, and then dunk the base into a tub filled with sand. I made sure to keep dunking the miniature until no more sand would adhere to the base, then I waited to let it dry.

Once the pva had all dried (I like to leave it overnight), I then covered the top of the base and the rim with watered-down Mournfang Brown. I'll come back and tidy the rim up to a firmer colour later.

Agrax Earthshade --> Mournfang Brown

I then deviated from the GW method linked above by washing the top of the base with Agrax Earthshade, before dry brushing with Mourning Brown. This is just to make sure any sand I may have missed with the first layer is at least stained brown, and also makes the recesses just that bit darker which is just personal preference.

Zamesi Desert --> Ushabti Bone

This is then followed by a dry brush of Zamesi Desert, followed by a dry brush of Ushabti Bone.

Mournfang Brown on rims and blood tidied around hooves

Once the dry brushing is complete the rim of the base can have Mournfang Brown reapplied to make the colour solid, and if there are any effect around the miniature's feet (like I have done with blood around the hooves of the Mouth of Sauron's horse) this can then be applied to the base around it.

Grass and any finishing touches

Following this add a bit of grass to finish off the generic 'plains' look. My plan is to use only dead grass (my favourite Mordheim Turf is great for this) on my evil armies, and living grass (I'll probably use the somewhat muted Scorched Grass) for my good armies. This will mean that allied forces will maintain a level of cohesion, while at the same time there is a subtle differentiation between good and evil. The only exception I might make is the Dead of Dunharrow, where I'd be tempted to use a mix of living and dead grass for thematic reasons.

Then you can add on whatever subtle touches you fancy like tree-roots or rocks. I plan on putting a skull or two on the bases of my Angmar heroes, and a few bits of ruins on my Moria bases, but otherwise I'll continue to follow the scheme laid down here. A bit of blood (if not already applied) may also be welcome if thematically appropriate, but I think I'd be tempted to keep gore to a minimum on Middle-Earth miniatures, don't know why I just would. Whatever you add, neutral and dark-to-mid toned colours are going to be the ideal.

These bases are ultimately designed to be fairly simple to do and also generally unobtrusive. While one would usually base dark miniatures on lighter bases and vice versa, this is more of a mid-tone so it can work fairly well with just about anything. The goal here is to allow the miniature to take centre-stage and not be overshadowed by a busy base.

I hope you've enjoyed this little how-to and best of luck with your own basing in Middle-Earth!

The Forge World Nazgul of Dol Guldur are bad

As I've been getting back into the newly re-branded 'Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game',  I've been digging out all my old LOTR miniatures and really enjoying getting them ready to play with. While doing this I began contemplating starting a Hobbit-era force and my first thought was to do a 'Dark Powers of Dol Guldur' army as it would be fairly small, I love the Nazgul, and I'd get to use the Necromancer miniature I already own. So I went to look at the Nazgul miniatures that would make up the bulk of the force. It was the first time I'd really looked at them in any detail and I found myself really disappointed.  So much so, that I felt the need to write a long, rambley post about it on my blog complete with hastily thrown together diagrams.

Thoughts after the jump:

The Hobbit - Basing my collection

One thing I decided to do over Christmas was to actually base my Hobbit collection rather than simply leaving their bases black. Using some instant mould and a lot of greenstuff I made suitable bases for all of the models from the 'Escape from Goblin Town' set which I think turned out quite well. I also took some time to base the other misc. Hobbit models I have picked up over the past few years. 

The Hobbit - Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm

For Christmas my brother bought me this excellent miniature which I consider to be one of the best models to come out of the Hobbit range GW have done. In fact I liked the mounted version of his model so much I have slightly converted it to use as my avatar/antagonist within some of the Dungeons and Dragons games I run. This model is beautifully sculpted and elegantly captures the elven king in all his martial glory wielding his duel blades, cloak whirling about him. 

Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm

This model was a real joy and challenge to paint in order to get the metallic quality into his robes, this was of course helped immensely by the quality of the sculpt which had lots of folds and creases perfect for making contrasts which I, of course, have managed to photograph terribly.

The metallic red-orange colour on the inside of his cape was difficult to achieve but I think turned out rather well and I would like to try out again on some models in the future. I was thinking that it could work really well contrasted with blue armour trimmed with silver and gold, perhaps if I ever feel like resurrecting my Tzeentchian Warriors of Chaos this would make a somewhat unique colour scheme.

The orc blood splattered on his swords, robes and cheek was simply a mix of 'Blood for the Blood God' and a small amount of 'Abaddon Black' which I think is suitably dark enough to represent orc blood but not so black in order to make it unrecognisable as blood.

I used greenstuff to sculpt some cobblestones on his base to represent the streets of Dale he fights upon later on in the final movie when he becomes unmounted from his elk. Speaking of which I found it odd that GW sculpted him upon a horse rather than the elk which he is seen riding briefly in the first film and is prominently shown in the third. 

Only a quick Hobbit post this week as I have been very busy with reading for my new modules and consequently haven't had much time for hobby work. In fact despite receiving End Times: Thanquol on Monday I am yet to read beyond the introduction I have been so busy. I should hopefully get some time to read it this weekend and get a review up next weekend for you. 

Life at university - a 3 month hobby review

As you may have noticed from my occasional moaning about having no money or time and my posts on Glottkin in particular, I am a student. I started at the end of September and as I come to the end of my first semester I thought I would do a little review of what I have done in the hobby thus far.

If you haven't seen my rambling several weeks into the semester you can read them here: My Glottkin woes and hobby life as a student.

Much of this post will just be random thoughts I have had combined with the occasional self-promotion for things I have posted or will be posting in the new year. There is also a mini-review of the latest Hobbit film near the bottom which I might write up more fully when I have seen it more than just the once. As it was the Lord of the Rings films that got me into the entire fantasy genre, seeing the final film of the Middle-Earth saga was quite the roller coaster.

I still can't believe its all over...

The Hobbit - Azog the Defiler

There are many changes and additions Peter Jackson has made to The Hobbit when adapting it for his epic fantasy trilogy; one of which is the inclusion of Azog as the main orc villain despite his death many years before the events of the book. His death has been changed to only a maiming and he rides out once again to inflict woe upon the race of Dwarves. I actually like his presence in the story despite it being such a massive departure from the book. I am a self-admitted Tolkien purist but I realise that Azog is necessary in pacing and thematic terms in order for the films to work. Of course his role could have been filled by someone like Bolg but that is a thought for another time.

I really enjoyed painting Azog though his scars were fiendishly difficult to paint, particularly when the model does not have them deeply sculpted on. I ended up painting them darker than in the film but I am overall happy with the final result.

The Hobbit - Bolg/Gundabad Orc General

I am very, much a Tolkien purist and I did enjoy the Desolation of Smaug. There were however one or two moments I felt were pointless additions. The biggest disappointment however was the decision to use a CGI Bolg at the last minute when they had already filmed Conan Stevens as a live action Bolg that looked far superior. I'm not saying Bolg didn't look good in the film. I thought he looked suitably creepy and evil as any son of Azog should. However I think he totally lacked the brutal and badass look that the scrapped live action Bolg had.

The Hobbit - Thror, The Last King Under the Mountain

Thror, mightiest of the dwarf kings, grandfather of Thorin Oakenshield and in my opinion one of the best models in GWs Middle-Earth range. Thror appears the very embodiment of the lonely mountain itself due to his flowing robes making his silhouette quite pyramidal and grey-white beard like a snow-capped peak. For one so obsessed with gold I painted him in as much of it as possible which should make him contrast nicely with what is likely to be a predominantly silver army.

King Thror

The Hobbit - The Goblin King

Bones will be shattered,

Necks will be wrung!

You'll be beaten and battered,

From racks you'll be hung!

You'll die down here and never be found,

Down in the deeps of Goblin Town!

The Hobbit - Goblins

The Goblins were immensely fun to paint as it gave me chance to try out many flesh techniques to achieve a diseased, almost corpse-like look. I thought the GW paint scheme was far too pale so experimented with a variety of different skin tones to try and capture the look seen in the film and the concept art. 

Grinnah the Goblin

Goblin Captain

The Goblins

The Hobbit - Thorin and Bilbo

Thorin and Bilbo were both very fun to paint, the former had a limited palette with an emphasis on cool colours whereas the hobbit was painted warmly in contrasting colours. This makes the two characters distinct from one another and both paint schemes are totally unique from the other miniatures. With Thorin's Company and the Wizards painted I now had a horde of Goblins to paint which took what felt like an age. 

Thorin Oakenshield

Bilbo Baggins

The Hobbit - Balin and Dwalin

Balin and Dwalin are amongst my favourite of the dwarves so I decided to save them until near the end. Both were quite fun to paint; I decided to stick to quite a limited colour palette with them and Thorin to make the three stand out from the other, more richly coloured and varied dwarves of the company. Looking back the entire group could perhaps benefit from a little neatening up, something I think I will do when I base them. 

Balin

Dwalin

The Hobbit - Dori, Nori and Ori

These three were the only dwarves I was not looking forward to. I spend ages trying to get the right shade on Dori and I had to go out a buy some purple for Ori who for some reason I have taken a disliking to. Nori though I did enjoy painting. I think all three could have done with some small free-hand designs just to break up the solid colours a bit, unfortunately I am not very good with small details and didn't want to ruin a model by attempting something I know I can't do. 

Dori

Nori

Ori

The Hobbit - Bifur, Bofur and Bombur

Bombur was the first dwarf I painted so varies slightly from his kin by having a far cleaner look about him. Bofur and Bifur I painted at the same time as they had similar colour schemes. When I saw the designs for Bofur and Bombur I readily accepted them, Bifur however concerned me when I saw part of an axe lodged in his head. It wasn't too distracting during the movie though it did seem a little odd and perhaps unnecessary in my opinion. Anyway the models, like the others in the starter set, are all well detailed and movie accurate being an absolute pleasure to paint.

Bofur

Bifur

Bombur

The Hobbit - Oin and Gloin

Of all the dwarves I really enjoyed Oin's performance and look which I though was incredibly typically dwarvish. I also liked the visual throwback to Gimli that Gloin was so I opted to do these two next. I am very happy with how Oin turned out though I am not happy with Gloin's flesh and I may have to go back and change it. Gloin, Balin, Dori and Bilbo all have strong red elements to them so distinguishing them from one another visually was important. To this end I used the long since discontinued 'red gore' as the base for the reds on Gloin, hopefully this should make his red distinct from the others.

Oin

Gloin

The Hobbit - Fili and Kili

This was the first duo of dwarves I painted and I must say I am very happy with the results. Though not entirely accurate to the paint scheme on the box or to the movie; I wanted to convey the mood of the characters more than anything else to make them instantly recognisable on the tabletop. I am also incapable of doing tiny freehand patterns so you won't see anything too fancy on the things I paint.

Fili and Kili have turned out oddly almost as polar opposites with Fili quite a light model whereas Kili has ended up very dark. This was not intentional but I think it helps them stand out against the other dwarves I have started. Both have their blue hoods from the books and I played up the blue element on Kili to mimic Thorin, who I have started but won't finish for a while.

Fili

Kili

The Hobbit - Radagast the Brown

I must admit I was a little anxious after seeing images of Radagast and being told about him by people who had seen the film before me. I had always thought of the brown wizard much like how GW had done with a model some years ago, though I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Sylvester McCoy's performance and enjoyed the whimsical nature of the character. I walked into the cinema feeling like Saruman and left more like Gandalf.

Anyway, the model is superbly detailed and has a lovely dynamic pose. Which I think contrasts with Gandalf quite nicely. Painting the two wizards makes me want to get a model for Saruman, perhaps the one on a horse. I painted him in darker shades of brown as I didn't think the paint scheme on the box was grubby enough. I thought of the colour of soil and went for that. It really was a treat to paint such a detailed and multi-layered model that was so radically different to what I normally paint. To improve my painting I try to paint as many different models as possible and so far I am finding these Hobbit miniatures a delightful diversion from the grim darkness of the far future or the blood-stained lands of the Old World.

The Hobbit - Gandalf the Grey

The Hobbit, I loved the book and was horrified Peter Jackson would ruin it; but alas my fears were unfounded and after the long wait I sat down to enjoy a good movie. I really enjoyed the film and was delighted when I was given the 'Escape from Goblin Town' starter set for christmas. Many years ago I was drawn into the hobby by the Lord of the Rings and looked forward to reigniting my passion for the Strategy Battle Game. It really is a great game system I would recommend to anyone though I must admit it has been years since I have had chance to play.

Moving on the models in the set are very nice and surprisingly well detailed for plastic. They really do capture the spirit of The Hobbit and look great on the tabletop. The scenery is a nice addition that is unfortunately absent from the fantasy and 40k starter sets. The first model I opted to paint was Gandalf for little other reason than I had recently bought some grey paint.